Adventure! RPG: Heroes of Our Time - The Roaring Twenties

[Alex Craft]

Thread for key information about events, people, and organizations from the Roaring Twenties game. Mostly of use to those players carrying characters through from that game or creating descendants of said characters.

Feel free to step in and comment, or add your own notes on what a former (or current) character would've done.

[Alex Craft]

Well, the end of Anthony King. This is pretty hugely important to Janos, so it should be the first part out the gate.

Istivan Rakozi did not die in the Great War. Instead, he had fallen in with the Order of Murder and - foreseeing the course of the war - he made himself disappear, faking his death and attempting to arrange the same for his family.

Unfortunately, the war was harsh to the Rakozi family, and the only son to be retrieved in time was the youngest, Octavian. It's ironic that the end of the war also saw his first bit of fencing with Anthony King, when he attempted to snatch his daughter, Amurra, from under King's nose, and failed disastrously.

After the war, Istivan stayed underground, using the Order of Murder to secretly gather power and allies. He wasn't alone, though - everyone from the King of the World and the Ubiquitous Dragon to Anthony King himself were engaged in similar activities ... a number of very powerful, very resourceful individuals with very different ideas about how the world should be run.

And, though they most had no idea whom their enemies were, they made war on each others' organizations. By the late thirties, Anthony King and Istivan Rakozi were effectively the last men standing, and both had enough reason to hate the other that no compromise was possible.

For Janos, you have King on one hand, with a controlling but moderately humanistic way of looking at world domination. On the other hand is your father, who is more interested in seeing the Great War rekindled ... but this time with Austria-Hungary, Germany, and their allies prepared to make a clean sweep.

Istivan had a hand in easing the rise of Nazi Germany, and he would have similarly brought about a rise of Hungary, had not his plans been disrupted. I'm guessing that Janos switched back his allegiance, yes?

Regardless, since we didn't play through all of that, I'm going to take the default option that King and Istivan effectively destroyed each other in a shadow war. There were plenty of ripples throughout the world's power structure (WWII would certainly have turned out differently if one had won), but the entire affair never entered the history books. Both men are presumed dead.

This decades-long shadow war also had the effect of wiping out most of the major shadow organizations at work at that time, thus 'freeing' the world for a while. Certainly some new ones have begun to form since then, but nothing firmly established.

For everyone else ... there is an issue of where your characters' allegiances fell. I assume nobody joined up with the Rakozi's, but well before this the team had found that King himself was not a very nice person. His end views were humanistic, but very 'Big Brotherish' ... and he certainly believed that the ends justified the means. It's possible that the team fragmented well before Janos went to join his father.

[Alex Craft]

For Jameson's background ... whatever happened to Heinrich Ziegfried? Nothing much, really. He laid low for a while, then came back with his old tricks, building weapons of mass destruction and attempting to raise an army of 'electric supermen.'

This would be more of the same for him, except for some of the particulars. Those being that Katherine Schafer was very nearly born Katherine Ziegfried ... she was illegitimate, however, and she never adopted her father's name.

Why didn't she mention this? Well, it ate her up inside, but the obvious answer is that she assumed Jameson would respond hostilely. Also, Anthony King told her not to. Kate's great flaw is that she is a natural follower. She followed her father (despite great moral objections) until Ziegfried started experimenting on her and King gave her a new home, and she followed King with absolute loyalty after that, mostly.

Unfortunately, when Ziegfried came back on the scene, she folded under her father's influence and went back into his service. (There seems to be a theme here, now that I think about it.)

Assuming she was given the chance, she could have been convinced to begin seizing her independence - first from her father, then - maybe - from Anthony King, once it becomes clear that King isn't quite as good a guy as he claims. Regardless, she was by this point very much in love with Jameson, which could easily have influenced her while all of this was going down.

I should be noted that she is a stalwart with a couple of minor knacks (Mad Scientist and Aetheric Vision). Her other abilities (a level three version of Lightning Conjuration, and heretofore unseen regeneration and enhanced physicals) were the product of experimentation done on her by Ziegfried - a Gadget with a Background Enhancement, essentially.

That's actually why Ziegfried wanted her upon his return. He didn't care about her, but he did care about the machine inside her ... he'd never been able to reproduce the technology after she escaped him.

Kate is probably still alive, unless she died in the Ziegfried affair - she is physically capable of living this long without significant aging. Jameson is not, unless he gained access to immortality drugs (Kate's not so much a chemist, so she couldn't have produced those).

[Alex Craft]

K.I.S.'s status is something I'm not sure about. The shareholders would certainly have shut down most of King's more extravagant expenditures, including - probably - any kind of field team. However, I imagine that Rhiannon Lewis would have managed to come out mostly on top, taking King's place.

Depending on where the PCs ended up falling in relation to King, there may be one or more of them sharing power with Rhiannon. Kate could be in there, but that depends on Jameson ... if he didn't part ways with her after the Ziegfried incident, but he left K.I.S. when King's shadowy doings came out, she'd've gone with him.

Rhiannon is likely a rather extraordinarily old (and, with this long to develop her psychic powers, scary) lady, unless Radha (capable of making immortality drugs) stayed with K.I.S.

[Alex Craft]

Radha should be alive, and she probably looks like she's in her thirties, tops. Aside from that, I leave that up to the player.

[jameson (ST)]

Jameson had two primary threads running through his character. The first and foremost being that he always tried to do the right thing, even to his own detriment at times (the incident in Texas being a good example, he would have taken over the peacekeeping of the town had the others not stopped him).

The other is his need to stop Dr. Ziegfried. MY visino was that Jameson entered into WW2 with the express purpose of locating Ziegfried before he could influence the war with his science. At this point the Beginning and the End are lost during his final battle with Ziegfried, but Jameson would come out on top, having secured the future at his own expense.

That Kate is Ziegfried's daughter would rock Jameson to the core but would not change his feelings for her. The sins of the father do not become the sins of the daughter as Jameson sees it.

As for King, Jameson did not hold any special amount of loyalty and would have stayed in King's service only as long as King was able to keep Jameson in the dark about his greater plans. Jameson would have left as soon as some of King's darker deeds had become apparent.

Although Jameson is a very old man now he ramains in amazingly good health for a man of 110 years old. The blasts of Electrical enegery we recieved during his showdown with Ziegfried had the untintentional side effect of slowing his aging process slightly.

Jameson is alive in the current time though completely retired and living with his eloved wife Kate. Together they dote on thier family, and hope that Raphael will use his abilities for the betterment of mankind.

That's what I had in mind anyways

[Blaine]

For Blaine, he would probably get wise to King's ambitions sooner than others, being a detective and natural cynic. He would have gotten out of K.I.S. before he got in too deep. From there he would have continued being the ace P.I. and get drawn into WWII, seeing the influence of the Black Hand all over it. He'd disappear towards the end of WWII, poking through the bunkers of Germany looking for his father and what was left of the Black Hand. Is he dead? Who knows?

[Regan McLachlan]

At the first sign of King's ambitions, Radha would have returned to India under the pretexts of expanding K.I.S's influence there but in reality gathering allies amongst her fellow Hindu (and even some Britons who 'went native') Inspired despite her widowhood by offering enhanced medical care (including immortality drugs).

She was heavily involved in India's gaining of independence after World War 2, possibly using influence garnered amongst the Allies during the war with her enhanced drugs. Even now, she is a lady with many fingers in many pies, having learnt something of a lesson from King - knowledge is power.

These days, she is likely an active part of the Aeon Society, though she has had arguments with Max Mercer over her political 'meddling'. For stats, she has an Inspiration of 10 with 5 in Intuitive and 5 in Reflective (Radha doesn't have a destructive bone in her body) and the Knacks of Heightened Senses, Cool Hand, Woman for all Seasons, Mad Scientist, Optimised Metabolism, Indisputable Analysis, Body of Bronze, Sensory Filtering, Reptilian Regeneration, Telluric Resonance and the Knack which allows you to heal with a touch. She has Mastery in Medicine, Science and Rapport and the Background enhancements of Kingpin, Enigma and Renown.

Whatever friendship she had with Janos was totally and utterly shattered when he joined the Nazi side of the war. As a 'coloured' person, she was on their hate lists, and so she has never forgiven Janos for helping them. She refuses to deal with him in any way and has said more than once that she would watch him die with a happy heart and consider it worth the karma.

On the subject of Rhiannon Lewis, as the original player of the character, I would say that she plied her knowledge, beauty and sheer brilliance to get to the top and certainly aided in the destruction of Anthony King. She eventually wed a fellow Oxford graduate and had a son named Arthur and a daughter named Olwen, both of whom were raised as Protestants (openly) and pagans (secretly). Arthur is now the head of K.I.S. or the business that grew from it, and has fathered a line of his own to continue that dominance, and Olwen is a High Priestess in the Wiccan tradition who teaches at Oxford.

Rhiannon has likely got Inspiration 9, with three dots each in Intuitive, Reflective and Destructive (she is a balanced individual) and the Knacks of Brain Skimming, Perfect Translation, Command Voice, Psychic Command (or whatever it's called), Mistress of Dissimulation, Telluric Resonance, the cursing Knack (haven't got my Adventure book on me) and an inverse version that allows her to bless people in a similar manner. She has Mastery in Bureaucracy, Etiquette and Subterfuge and the Background enhancements of In Charge, Wealth Beyond Avarice, Sanctum Sanctorum and Legions. Her Virtue remains Leader, but her Vice has switched to Architect.

It is more than possible that she has acquired longevity drugs from Radha or other sources with her obscene wealth.

Her relationship with Janos is decidedly chilly, her being a native Briton and all, and she will try to keep in contact with her other team mates. Her relationship with the Aeon Society is warm, as she has learnt to take a hands-off approach in her years, and she supports them whenever she can.

[Mark J. Cobb]

Although, I'd have to look at the old threads, I think Jameson could quite easily be Mark Cobb's great uncle. It would be a more approrpriate relation then to anyone else I think.

Thoughts?

[Alex Craft]

Quote:

MY visino was that Jameson entered into WW2 with the express purpose of locating Ziegfried before he could influence the war with his science. At this point the Beginning and the End are lost during his final battle with Ziegfried, but Jameson would come out on top, having secured the future at his own expense.

Ok - I was mentally putting Ziegfried's end before King died, but we could stick it in WWII. However, due to general ideas I have for the historical 'arc' of the Inspired, it would have to be the very beginning.

Probably Jameson once again went off before the Americans got involved, seeking out Ziegfried with what allies he could muster. Blaine might've gotten involved, if he was doing the same kind of 'behind enemy lines' work he'd done in WWI. Winston's also a likely ally. Maybe a couple of the other team members.

It's possible that Janos got involved on Ziegfried's side, depending on how you guys feel about that. Though, for Janos, Ziegfried was pretty clearly insane ... but maybe very useful to the war effort, if he didn't melt down entirely and try to take everything for himself.

With this ordering of events, Kate would likely have stood by King when his dirty laundry came out (she already knew about much of it). If any of the remaining members of the team actually tried to stop King's activities, they might have convinced her to leave King - otherwise, she leaves K.I.S. when King dies.

Once leaving King (one way or the other), she disappears soon after. If she was convinced to leave King, she stayed with Jameson for a while before leaving all of a sudden, with little explanation. Otherwise, she simply disappeared in the chaos of King's death.

Jameson then sees her for the next time when he locates Ziegfried - with King gone, she inevitably got drawn back into her father's orbit. Most likely, she was convinced to seize her independence and aid Jameson in finishing off her father.

Quote:

The blasts of Electrical enegery we recieved during his showdown with Ziegfried had the untintentional side effect of slowing his aging process slightly.

Fair enough. For reference, Kate has aged slowly, but still looks fairly old (a well-preserved fifties - maybe even late forties). However, the devices augmenting her haven't let her physical or mental condition decay one iota.

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For Blaine, he would probably get wise to King's ambitions sooner than others, being a detective and natural cynic.

King was damn good at covering his tracks, but Blaine was likely the first one to connect the dots, once the team had come across enough evidence. Assuming he told the rest of the team, that probably led to a general disbanding - it sounds like Blaine, Radha, and Jameson mostly went their separate ways at that point.

Janos would have already known about King's larger vision, assuming that being told that wouldn't shake his loyalty (King wouldn't bring it up until he was sure, but he did see Janos as a more reliable ally).

Locky would've continued to work for King for a while, but he'd have disappeared at the first available opportunity. He was being blackmailed to stay in the first place, so there's no love lost there.

I imagine that Winston would have gone back to treasure-hunting, for the most part (though he'd probably have joined up if some of other team members chose to oppose King).

I invoke GM's privilege to hold onto Rhiannon. Due to where I want K.I.S. to be at this point, I need her to have remained loyal to King. Up until Istivan Raknozi showed up, she and Janos would have held K.I.S.'s line (which, actually, is a pretty spectacularly nasty team).

Presumably, that fell apart with Janos going over to his father (unless he didn't), and any remaining friendliness would've been shot down during WWII. I'm going to keep her as CEO of K.I.S, up until the present (though she can be married, with children), and I don't know if she's gained access to immortality drugs ... because of the K.I.S. situation, she's likely not on good terms with Radha, and I don't know how many other sources of those drugs I want to have running around.

[Count Janos Rakozi]

If Janos ever got wind that his father's actions got his sister killed, he would have remained with King until the late thirties. Anthony was essentially his brother-in-law.

Janos' loyalties lay with family (including Anthony), Hungary, and various things coming in much farther down.

On a side note, Janos very well may have helped Jameson deal with Zeigfried (it being a family affair) and he really liked Kate and Jameson. It doesn't mean they are friends, but it would remind Jameson that Janos doesn't forget people who have fought by his side despite present advesarial circumstances. Jameson and Janos spilled blood together and they share a soldier's bond.

Janos would have worked hard to keep Hungary out of the War as much as possible, but once war came, he would have volunteered to serve in the army and fought against the russians. Also, like most Hungarians, he was not an anti-semite and would have done everything to hold off the purges that finally came in the fall of 1944. Indeed, it is historically noted that various SS units actually defended the ghettos from the local Hungarian Death Squads, and Janos would have been part of that.

After the war, he would have been periferily involved into the Legion and Odessa. He was a little too late to take part in the rising of 1956, though he managed to help people escape the Soviet crack-down.

In the 1950's throught the '70's, Janos would have worked with the CIA in various anti-communitst operations, gaining valuable contacts in Eastern Europe and the Middle East.

In general, Janos is very anti-communist, but not anti-Semitic, or a racist. He simple wants his homeland to prosper and stand tall and proud on the world stage.

He pretty much ignores Rahda's contempt as he considers it arrogance and total ignorance of a situations she knows nothing about. After all, there was an Indian SS unit (the Free India Legion) which became an SS formation in August 1944)

[Alex Craft]

Did anyone have anything to do with either side of the Aeon Society/Dr. Primoris conflict?

[jameson (ST)]

Quote:

Did anyone have anything to do with either side of the Aeon Society/Dr. Primoris conflict?

Jameson may have gotten involved but I'm not exactly sure how that would have happened.

Janos was held in very high regard by Jameson so it would be unlikely that they would have become true enemies especially if Janos fought against Ziegfried with Jameson.

Jameson would have tried to convince Kate to leave King's service at the same time that he did, it's safe to say that if shove came to push Jameson WOULD have died for her as it goes with not only his love but his ethos as a protector.

I'm figuring Jameson at 110 looks like and is as healthy as a man of around 75-80 would be basically after his showdown with Ziegfried his aging continued at about half the normal pace. This means that he looks old enough to be Kate's father at this point and has probably realized and reconciled with the fact that he will die long before her.

[Regan McLachlan]

Quote:

Originally posted by Alex Craft:
Did anyone have anything to do with either side of the Aeon Society/Dr. Primoris conflict?

Radha might have been involved peripherally on Mercer's side.

[Count Janos Rakozi]

With Anthony King dead, it is most likely Janos would have been drug in on Dr. Primoris' side. I don't recall King having any relations with the Aeon Society that might have made him act differently.

He holds no grudges against the Aeon Society, as it was wartime. As long as they leave him alone, he leaves them alone.

Though he has little or no dealings with Primoris, he is somewhat interested in the new Zorbo and interested on were that goes.